Marvel Legends War Machine figure review Hulkbuster wave

War Machine didn’t have a featured role in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but he maximized his minutes. If nothing else, he definitely had the best stories of his pals.

My old Toy Biz War Machine is definitely showing its age so I wasn’t too upset with adding a Marvel Cinematic Universe version to my collection. I’m still going to need a more comic book based appearance, but this will make for a decent stand-in for now. I won’t complain about getting more Rhodey figures.

Packaging: It’s the standard black and red wide open presentation we’ve come to know, love and expect at this point. The window visibility remains a plus to at least alert you to swapped out pieces.

Since he’s one of the more widely known characters now thanks to his AOU appearance, Rhodey doesn’t have to share packaging. Of all the figures in the wave, he looks the slightest in the package since he has the smallest Build-A-Figure piece. Good thing he’s a headliner.

Likeness: I’m still partial to the walking tank armor from Iron Man 2, but for a more streamlined getup, this isn’t bad. Without watching the movie again (for the 30th time…) it certainly appears that Hasbro did a very nice job capturing the source material armor.

As we’ve seen with the MCU Ant-Man, that isn’t always the case once the film folks don’t pass on updated pics well into figure production.

Paint: Hasbro used an interesting paint technique with the armor adding some silver speckles/sparkles into the base black. It’s a neat way to convey a metallic sheen and really looks great.

The smaller details like Rhodey’s name and armor info are very well done. I don’t typically have those kinds of problems on Marvel Legends figures and that’s something Hasbro should be commended for consistently getting right.

Unlike Iron Man Now, the black and silver color scheme allows the white and red highlights of the arc reactor to stand out more prominently.

The alternate sculpt is also handled with appreciated care. No problems with the eye paint and the Don Cheadle likeness doesn’t get ruined with poor paint applications.

Scale: One aspect of the figure I really liked is that War Machine doesn’t look small. Sure, he’s probably still a little slight for a guy in a suit of armor, but he also stands taller than the average Marvel Legend figure.

Articulation: Like Iron Man, that clunky suit of armor comes at the cost of some of the usual articulation. The biggest omission you’ll likely miss when posing is the waist joint. The hip articulation doesn’t have a great back and forth range, which is somewhat offset by the double-jointed knees. I’m still not a fan of the pop-up armor points since they hinder the arm/shoulder movement.

War Machine has:

neck

ball-jointed shoulders

bicep

elbow

wrist

wrist hinge

torso

hip

thigh

knee (double-jointed)

ankle

Accessories: Rhodey’s chain gun is removable and can be attached into a hole on either back shoulder piece. The setup on the chain gun is kinda wonky as it doesn’t maneuver as smoothly as it initially appears.

As part of the Build-A-Figure Hulkbuster Iron Man wave, War Machine comes with the most important part — the head. Compared to some of the other pieces packed with other figures this is somewhat small and underwhelming, but still very necessary.

Good thing Hasbro recognized we needed a little more and included an alternate head sculpt with Rhodey’s mask raised. It doesn’t detach off, but has that familiar flipped up look. The Don Cheadle likeness is amazingly great for this scale. Both heads pop off easily enough, but are secure so you can pose him without worrying about a Headless War Machine.

Worth it? While some Marvel Legends have dropped 50% from their original retail price, War Machine is holding steady at $20. Blame the movie exposure. Given the somewhat restrictive articulation, $15 is the ideal price point for him.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Where to get it? A lot of Walgreens in my area still have the BAF Iron Man wave on shelves so you can always be adventurous. Or you can take the safer approach and grab War Machine from Amazon.com.